Growth-in-length of the chub Leuciscus cephalus (L.) from the River Vapa (Serbia, Yugoslavia)

Abstract

A sample of 34 individuals of chub Leuciscus cephalus (L., 1758) ageing from one to nine years from the River Vapa were checked for their growth-in-length and estimated for the same parameter by back-calculation methods of Monastyrskij and von Bertalanffy. Apart from possibility of the sampling bias occurrence, none of estimations was significantly different from empirically obtained values for growth-in-length. It seems that age three is the most critical period of the chub life-history. The stability of growth in particular cohorts suggests that River Vapa is very invariable habitat. The prominent similarity of chub of different taxonomic status from riverine populations throughout the Europe for the growth-in-length, and their difference from chub populations from lakes, suggest the predominance of environmental over the taxonomic determination of that parameter.